JCHS Army JROTC teams compete at Raider Team National Championships

Members of the JROTC All Male team are, from left, first row: Jerome Taylor and Adrian Diaz; and second row: Steven Barber, Keith Kelly, Fernando Gomez, Tay Taylor, Dante Daniels, Andres Jeronimo, Remigio Gomez and Charles Reynolds. (Photos contributed) The Jenkins County High School JROTC Raider War Eagles Team I (all male team) and Team II (male and female team) competed in the first ever Raider Team National Championships at Sandy Creek State Park, Athens this past Saturday.

The Championships were hosted by Cedar Shoals High School from Athens, and run by Sports Network International from Daytona Beach Florida. There were 49 teams from 33 schools covering 13 states. Schools came from as far north as New York, south to Florida and west to Missouri.

Raider competition consists of the Army Physical Fitness Test (2 minutes of push-ups; 2 minutes of sit-ups and a 2 mile run); 40 yard relay with two 80-pound water cans for each team member; one rope bridge; cross country obstacle course carrying a stretcher with a 100-pound pipe, two 80-pound water cans, four 25-pound ammunition cans over a one-half mile course with obstacles and the two mile team run. Team composition is 10 members. The male-mixed team is a minimum of four females and six males; all male team is ten males and the female team is ten females. If anyone is injured, the only substitute must be of the same gender.

Members of the JROTC Mixed Team, are, from left: Chris Carter, Chris Hillis, Brianna Joiner, Lashonda Kelsey, Latranese Sapp, Michael Yoke and Corey Ward. Francis Lewis High School from Fresh Meadows New York (600 JROTC cadets in their program with 8 Army Instructors) won the overall Male Team Championship with Jenkins County finishing 18th overall in that category. War Eagle Team II finished 13th in the Male Mixed category. Paulding County High School from the Atlanta Georgia area won the overall championship in this category. Cedar Shoals High School from Athens won the all female team National Championship.

Jenkins County's high mark came in the one rope bridge event with the War Eagle Team I finishing 9th overall (of 26 teams competing and only 26 seconds from the fifth place trophy) beating out Georgia powerhouses from Paulding County (the overall male-mixed National Champion), Hephzibah High School, Lakeside, Elbert County, Hiram, Evans, Rich- mond Hill, Decatur and Windsor Forest from Savannah. Other events the War Eagle Team I placed in were Army Physical Fitness Test, 19th; the 5 mile cross country run, 19th; the one mile obstacle course, 13th, the one mile cross country litter carry, 22nd. The Male-Mixed War Eagle Team II finished 11th in the Army Physical Fitness Test, 15th on the 5 mile cross country run, 14th on the one mile obstacle course; 15th on the one mile cross country litter carry and 9th on the rope bridge (one minute fifty seconds from a trophy for fifth place) in their division.

The JCHS Army JROTC Raider Team will complete their first season of competition November 17th and 18th at the Georgia State Raider Championships to be held at Thunder Scout Boy Scout Reservation in Molena, Georgia. All are welcome to come and see what your cadets are doing against the biggest schools in Georgia. Jenkins County is the David against the Goliaths in this competition.